I had to hang up my skates for the summer, and I am always looking for ways to prevent blade rust over the humid off-season. I recently bought a hand-tool from a well-respected manufacturer and they recommend Camellia Oil as a mild, non-toxic rust inhibitor for their tools.
I had never heard of it before, and a search told me that it's a vegetable oil often used in cooking in Asia. Can't get any more non-toxic than that!
I bought a spray bottle of it from the tool manufacturer (http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?grp=1229 (http://www.lie-nielsen.com/catalog.php?grp=1229)) and I'm going to test it on my blades thsi summer.
I'm wondered if anyone else has tried this as a rust preventative? If the claims are true (and I have no reason to doubt the tool manufacturer), then I'm switching over to it to avoid the smelly hardware-store oils that I've been using.
I always use vaseline or wd-40 stick. I wonder how the spray will work out - might be too much overspray. I hope it works out well this year for you. I wish you had summer ice more, though.
I looked it up on the web and mistook it for Tea Tree Oil, which is an anti-fungal treatment. I wondered why metal would need that, lol.
Instead of spraying directly onto the blade, I just spritz a paper towel and wipe.
The test is underway.
Did you cover the blades? I used to put waxed paper over them after treatment. I've been using soakers on DH's skates. (Which are only used 3-4 times / year.)
No, the skates are hanging on my skate drying/storage rack out in the open... http://skatingforums.com/index.php/topic,99.0.html (http://skatingforums.com/index.php/topic,99.0.html)
I had the most rust when I stored them in soakers one summer, and they were sitting on the carpeted basement room floor. Even with AC, there must have been enough humidity to do damage.